Posts Tagged ‘Cheryl Cole’

I was about one week away from finishing my job as Assistant Manager at the Perfume Shop. I was eager to leave and start my Careers Guidance postgrad at UWE, and my new job at the BRI who were taking their sweet time to contact me – for most of June and July 2009 I claimed JSA while I was waiting for them to give me a start date, which felt pretty bleak! Luckily, they did at the end of July, and I’ve enjoyed working there ever since, especially as my boss has been so flexible and understanding regarding my university course this year. I can’t wait to go into work next week and tell them that I was successful in my job interview for Personal Tutor at Cirencester College – they’ll be so pleased for me. 🙂 Also, I think that a couple of them might have placed a bet on me getting the job?… Madness!

I was about one month away from starting this blog! I can’t believe I’ve been writing on here and connecting with you all now for 11 months, it’s mad! I feel that my writing has improved as a result, as well as the fact that I’ve been able to share with you all my music, my heart, my trials and tribulations regarding relationships, friendships, and everything in between! Some of the comments that I have received and some of the friends that I have made as a result of writing this blog make it all worthwhile and I am very touched that sometimes, at one moment in time two lives can connect, because we can be going through the same thing.

I was emotionally drained after two dating attempts that were non-starters. It would take me a few more attempts before I finally got it right, but I remember believing, even up until recently, that perhaps love just wasn’t for me, and I might be a popular person and have lots of friends and cherish them, but never quite find someone with whom I connected on a romantic level. I was still dating because I didn’t want to give up, but I was secretly convinced that it was no use. Love comes around when we least expect it.

I had started my twitter account (follow me!) a month ago, and I have since made fantastic friends such as Nick, Nigel & Ness (all the N’s!). The Twitterati was born!!! 😉

6 months ago:

I was working through my feelings regarding Mike (remember that saga?), and things were just in the process of getting really tangled and confused. It was an emotionally bleak time, because I’d truly never felt like that, because this was someone I cared about so much and was so important to me. I’m glad to say that now we’ve come out the other side, and he is one of my best, closest friends. Listening to Cheryl Cole (whose album I had just downloaded at the time), we really had to “fight for this love” (oh god that sounds cheesy but never mind), but it was all worth it because without him I wouldn’t have my beautiful tattoos (I still had virgin skin at this point!), the strength to have started my own relationship with Toby, nor the placement or transport which enabled me to get the job at Cirencester. Mike (through the Careers Guidance course) has really helped me transform my life.

I was coming to breaking point with my relationship with my parents. Christmas was a particularly low period, and I remember sitting in the park in the dark on Christmas Day quietly hating them, just wishing I could escape. I felt like I was a nuisance to their lives, that they didn’t really want me around but since I had nowhere else to go, they expected me to just sit with them without complaint. My friends were helpful distractions during the day, but coming home in the evenings and sitting around the dinner table was always a daunting prospect. I was only just realising that, at 24 years old, that my problems with my parents were reflections on them: time and again I’ve made close friends easily, and generally my friends and I see eye to eye and we don’t argue. So the fact that I had these problems with my parents, that their relationship is so volatile, is a reflection of them and not me. I was finally starting to learn that I am not an ugly person on the inside and that there is nothing wrong with me, but that’s still a work in progress.

Today:

After two months of sending off applications for jobs as I approach the end of my Careers Guidance Qualification, I had an interview for a Personal Tutor position at Cirencester College. Out of 110 applicants, they interviewed about 20 people, and of those 20, 4 of them were employed. I am one of those 4, Mike is another. It’s ridiculous, it’s amazing, I am unbelievably happy because it is the job I wanted, the people who work there are a pleasure to be around, and the students are some of the best in the country (the College has an excellent reputation). Just as I was getting despondent regarding my lack of interviews, 2 came at once (I have to cancel my Careers Wales one) and I got the job I wanted. I am going to be helping to shape young people’s futures, which is quite daunting, but I feel ready for this. Bring it on! Plus, I’m going to be working with one of my best friends… I wonder if Cirencester knows what it has let itself in for?

I am nearly 5 months into my relationship with Toby. He is the hands down the best boyfriend I’ve ever had, he seems to pretty much adore me, and already in this short time I have learned a lot about relationships, about love, and about myself. Although he’s going to be in London from July while I’ll be in Cirencester, we’re both determined to make it work – it’s not like we’re across the world from each other, it’s one and a half hour’s drive. At this point, despite my own feeling that I don’t deserve love, that I am scared to let someone in and see all of me, we’re doing it and living the dream, and at 24 years old I’m pretty lucky to have everything suddenly start working out. Toby is a dream, I am so lucky and we are gonna make it 🙂 Also, he is my home away from home, and between staying at his and socialising / partying with my other friends, I have that extra distance I need from my parents until I move out.

I have been having driving lessons for 2 and a half months now, and it’s been harder than I expected, if truth be told. My instructor Russell is fantastic, and I’m hoping to increase my lessons in July once I finish at uni, with a view to taking my test during the summer. For Cirencester, a car will come in incredibly useful (though to start with I reckon I could get by without it) and for my general independence, a car is necessary. If I can pass my driving test (and I notice that my attitude to driving has changed and I feel a bit more confident, more capable of it – so I can pass my test), I will buy a nice little car and I will have achieved my three aims for this year : boyfriend, car, job. More importantly, I failed my driving test when I was 18, and for all the time in the interim, I’ve had a secret nagging feeling of failure that I can’t drive. It’s time to conquer those fears once and for all, redress the balance and vanquish that feeling of failure and inadequacy.

I have my 3 lovely tattoos, and my raven is on the Iron & Ink website for you all to see! Check it out here! I’m famous! 😉

2010 is destined to be my year of transformation, I am determined to turn my life around and this is the final piece in the puzzle. I will move out once everything else is in place, but at least moving out doesn’t require passing any sort of exam or any protracted interview / dating process! Looking back over how far I’ve come, it’s pretty overwhelming and I feel almost powerful that I’ve finally taken control, with the help of so many friends, and it’s time to keep moving forward. No regrets, no apologies. 🙂

Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas! I have compiled (and it was startlingly easy) my top 20 albums of 2009 (if you know me, you know it’ll be an R&B female-dominated affair as usual!). Unlike last year, when I listed 10 and did mini reviews, this time I’ve got 20 (since my shortlist came to 20 albums, I thought it would just be easier to rank 11-20, than pick out some for Honourable Mentions). No mini-reviews, or I would be here forever, and I think my blog posts are long enough without breaking the 5000 word barrier! So I’ve just put the best and worst tracks from each album with the album cover, and hopefully you’ll be intrigued to download my favourite songs of 2009. And while you’re at it, you can download my own album, Quiet Storm, here too! So without further ado…